"Soft-Shelled Turtles"

"Soft-Shelled Turtles"

The walled city of Tsinan, capital of Shantung Province, is some 150 miles behind the Japanese front lines in Central China. For three months it has been part of Japan's "conquered territory" and the base of operations for the Japanese thrust at China's "Hindenburg Line" along the Lunghai Railway in southern Shantung. Garrisoned only by a small Japanese force because all available troops have been sent to the front, the Japanese were forced to employ two Chinese battalions, who surrendered when the city was occupied, as Tsinan's military police. Last week hundreds of Chinese soldiers, disguised as coolies or even dressed as market girls, filtered into Tsinan, with arms concealed beneath their clothing. There were whispered conferences with the Chinese battalion leaders and then, encouraged by reports of Chinese success in the Lunghai area, Tsinan's Chinese police revolted. Grabbing their pistols, the only arms allowed them by the Japanese, they barricaded themselves in the suburbs. Coolies and market girls whipped off their disguises, rushed to join them. Three Chinese guerrilla columns suddenly appeared outside and, at last reports, had succeeded in gaining a foothold on three sides.

Capture of Tsinan would sever the link between Japan's front lines and her supply & troop landing base at Tientsin, 175 miles north. However, military observers thought that continued occupation of Tsinan by the Chinese would be a foolhardy proposition, for Japanese troops could easily land at Tsingtao, Japanese-held port. 200 miles away on the coast and connected with Tsinan by direct rail. However, the very fact that the Chinese forces dared strike in the heart of Japanese territory was evidence of the precarious position Japan's military machine has now reached in central China.

Last week with a great grinding of gears, this Japanese machine, nose-jammed for a month against the "Hindenburg Line," supplies exhausted, communications cut, went into reverse and began backing away to feel for safer ground.

All along the Grand Canal sector north of Suchow, furiously-battling Chinese surged forward in frontal attacks. At Taierhchwang, scene of back-&-forth fighting for a fortnight, the Chinese hurled new Soviet tanks, fresh German-trained troops into the line, recaptured the city. At last reports the Japanese had dug in at Yihsien, 20 miles to the rear, where they were attempting to consolidate their forces in the area. Chinese armies hammered against the town in an effort to drive the Japanese farther back.

Those of the 400,000,000 Chinese people who heard about it hailed with wild delight this magnificent success, their first major victory in ten months of war. Cracked China's famed "Christian General," General Feng Yu-hsiang: "The Japanese are soft-shelled turtles in a closed jar!"

In Hankow, Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek, pleased with the Chinese success, encouraged by the continued inflow of Soviet tanks and warplanes, and gratified because his Kuomintang Party Congress concluded fortnight ago on a note of harmony with the Chinese Communists, was still cautious. "There is still a long way to go," admitted Chiang. "Let us not be proud or over-satisfied with preliminary success, or discouraged by temporary reverses! Let us fight with greater determination !"

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